Taking it to the Streets

When the snow starts flying and residents start battening down the hatches, that's when John Trythall's job swings into gear.

Trythall is a 13-year veteran of the Merrimack Highway Department, one of 20 plow drivers who take it to the streets when the weather gets bad.

As we climbed into his truck – Truck 27 – on Friday afternoon, he was already chatting about what it's like to be behind the wheel of a six-wheel dump truck with a front plow and wing plow.

Trythall helped me climb over the wing plow and I used my rock climbing skills to swing my way into the passenger seat of the behemoth of a truck.

Buckling in, Trythall pointed to the wing plow blade, the one I'd just climbed over, and mentioned that from where he was sitting in the driver's seat, he couldn't see the plow. He knows it's 9 feet wide, and after 10 years behind the wheel on the route we were embarking on, he's used to his position on the road.

Trythall's route starts and ends at the highway garage on Turkey Hill Road and covers a big stretch of heavily-traveled roads threading off of Baboosic Lake Road.

Among the most important parts of his route, he says, is “the Mobil hill.”

You know the one. That little hill you climb or descend at the intersection of Daniel Webster Highway and Baboosic Lake Road. Trythall swings over it a couple times, laying down some salt as we go, explaining that it's his job to make sure people have traction on that hill so they don't get stuck climbing it and can stop while descending.

“The Mobil hill is mine and I take some pride in keeping it clear,” Trythall told me as we were approaching it on Baboosic Lake Road. “Everyone takes pride in their route. If no one calls to say they are stuck on the Mobil hill, that's been a good route for me.”

As we came through the intersection, Trythall took a right on Daniel Webster Highway, heading toward the Fire Station, an easy spot to turn around when traffic was as light as it was Friday afternoon.

“With a wing truck, you try to make most of your turns right turns,” Trythall said. “You don't want to leave wing rows in the road.”

A wing row meaning a line of snow that the right-facing plow would leave behind in the road while taking a left turn.

Swinging back up to Baboosic Lake Road, we took a right onto Church St., which is technically part of another driver's route, but Trythall said he often takes a ride down it to help out the driver in a smaller plow make his way down the steep hill where Church Street meets Route 3.

Rounding the corner, Trythal slowed down significantly explaining that a deep-set manhole was a doozy if you hit it too fast.

It's those kinds of things, knowing where the manholes are, where the road narrows because of curbing, where the best place is to stop to turn around, that make running the same route each storm valuable.

“That's why we like being on our own routes, so you know what's there,” Trythall said.

Not only is it oddities in the roads, but knowing through years of experience which hills and intersections are generally always going to need some salt (like McQuestion Road at Madeline Bennett Drive, the hill on Parkhurst Road and the intersection of Turkey Hill and Baboosic Lake Roads), and where the road narrows because of curbing.

And there are the things as motorists that we may not think of that are in the minds of the drivers as they navigate the streets of town. Like slowing down on the highway overpass so you don't dump snow onto the roadway below, or the need sometimes to back up to make a turn on the route. As we approached the intersection of Bean and Bedford Roads, Trythall was checking the rear-view mirrors for the car behind us.

Despite the signs on the trucks warning motorists to keep back 100 feet, Trythall said cars are often much closer, not for not paying attention but because many people can't eyeball 100 feet. During the daylight hours, if a car is too close, it can be very hard to see them and they don't always pick up that a truck is turning around, Trythall said.

“That's part of the reason so many people like driving at night, you can see the car's headlights,” Trythall said.

The car behind us, for the record, recognized perfectly well that Trythall was making a turn to head back down Bean Road.

Trythall said it takes him about an hour to an hour and a half to get through his route before starting all over again, pointing out that some storms are quicker than others when the snow isn't coming so fast and furiously as it was Friday.

And when it's falling fast, the faster he can get back to the beginning, the better.

“If it's snowing pretty well, like this, there's likely to be two to three inches by the time I get back,” Trythall said.

Trythall said he'll run the route one and a half to two times before heading back to the highway garage on Turkey Hill Road to rest and refuel.

When a storm hits, all the rules that say how long someone can be behind a truck are out the window, Trythall said. And when as storm like this hits, it's long hours ahead. Trythall expected to be at it for at least 24 hours to get this mess plowed up, if snow was to fall as long as was projected. Once it stops snowing it's another couple hours of clean up and then Trythall hits Route 3 to start treatment.

“A shift ends when the roads are clear and you can see black top,” Trythall said.

As for sleeping, he said he grabs a nap when he can in his truck.

“When you get tired, you rest,” Trythall said.

With 20 routes and 20 regular plow drivers, the Highway Department has just enough people to do the job, but with a storm like this weekend's nor'easter, it's all hands on deck.

Merrimack's two foremen, who run the show during the storm, are both on hand, one generally directing and one driving. But on Friday, office manager Betsy, manned the garage for parts of the night, acting as dispatch, so Bruce Moreau and Jeff Strong, the foremen, could both be on the road if needed.

“We all sort of depend on each other to keep track of what's going on,” Trythall said as we wound through the roads. “Our main job is to keep the roads clear for police and fire.”

As he guided the truck meanwhile manning the controls for the plows and the road treatment spreader, I couldn't help but be struck by the fact that that many controls on a video game controller is too much for me.

And from where I was sitting and from what he was telling me, I could tell that this job is more than just a job for Trythall, and certainly his coworkers. It's a way of life.

These men and women are away from their families – Trythall's been married since 1983 and has five grown children – for hours at a time while taking care of the roads. They are out their doing their jobs while watching for kids and pedestrians, road obstructions, other vehicles, sweeping close to curbing and mailboxes (a few get hit from time to time, though I'm happy to say that was not the case on this trip.) And at the end of 15, 20, 30 or more hours, they are going home, often not to go right to bed, but to help their own families dig out of their driveways.

I live on a main road that pushes a lot, I mean a lot, of snow into my driveway, but after and hour and a half on the streets with Trythall, I've got a new perspective. If it seems like every time you clear your driveway a plow pushes more in minutes later, you're probably right, and that means they are doing their job.

If you think you're tired after a couple hours of cleaning up from a storm, consider how you'd feel at the end of 30 hours with very little sleep. It might make you feel a little better.

I think best of all, is learning a little slice of the lifestyle that is a plow driver. It's a demanding job when winter is bad. It's long hours and time spent away from home, its sometimes thankless, yet Trythall isn't asking for thanks. He's just happy to be doing what he loves.

With a background in driving trucks, before coming to Merrimack 13 years ago, Trythall has been behind the wheel for many years.

“Once you get to truck driving, it gets in your blood, it doesn't matter what kind of truck” Trythall said.

He enjoys the challenges of his job, and the camaraderie of the men and women he works with. He enjoys the winters, when a big storm is dumping snow, and though it seems like a job where there isn't much variety, that's not exactly true.

“Every storm is different, “Trythall said. “It may seem the same to everyone else, but what we have to do out there makes a big difference to how the roads are kept up.”

Thank you again to the Highway Department and to Trythall for allowing me this experience.